1830. Sublette's camp commenced moving back to the east side of the Rocky
Mountains in October. Its course was up Henry's fork of the Snake River, through the
North Pass to Missouri Lake, in which rises the Madison fork of the Missouri River. The
beaver were very plenty on Henry's fork, and our young trapper had great success in
making up his packs; having learned the art of setting his traps very readily. The
manner in which the trapper takes his game is as follows:--

He has an ordinary steel trap weighing five pounds, attached to a chain five feet long,
with a swivel and ring at the end, which plays round what is called the float, a dry
stick
of wood, about six feet long. The trapper wades out into the stream, which is shallow,
and cuts with his knife a bed for the trap, five or six inches under water. He then takes
the float out the whole length of the chain in the direction of the centre of the stream,
and drives it into the mud, so fast that the beaver cannot draw it out; at the same time
tying the other end by a thong to the bank. A small stick or twig, dipped in musk or
castor, serves for bait, and is placed so as to hang directly above the trap, which is now
set. The trapper then throws water plentifully over the adjacent bank to conceal any
foot prints or scent by which the beaver would be alarmed, and going to some distance
wades out of the stream.

In setting a trap, several things are to be observed with care:--first, that the trap is
firmly fixed, and the proper distance from the bank--for if the beaver can get on shore
with the trap, he will cut off his foot to escape: secondly, that the float is of dry wood, for
should it not be, the little animal will cut it off at a stroke, and swimming with the trap to
the middle of the dam, be drowned by its weight. In the latter case, when the hunter
visits his traps in the morning, he is under the necessity of plunging into the water and
swimming out to dive for the missing trap, and his game. Should the morning be frosty
and chill, as it very frequently is in the mountains, diving for traps is not the pleasantest
exercise. In placing the bait, care must be taken to fix it just where the beaver in
reaching it will spring the trap. If the bait-stick be placed high, the hind foot of the
beaver will be caught: if low, his fore foot.

The manner in which the beavers make their dam, and construct their lodge, has long been reckoned among the wonders of the animal creation; and while some observers have claimed for the little creature more sagacity than it really possesses, its instinct is still sufficiently wonderful. It is certainly true that it knows how to keep the water of a stream to a certain level, by means of an obstruction; and that it cuts down trees for the purpose of backing up the water by a dam. It is not true, however, that it can always fell a tree in the direction required for this purpose. The timber about a beaver dam is felled in all directions; but as trees that grow near the water, generally lean towards it, the tree, when cut, takes the proper direction by gravitation alone. The beaver then proceeds to cut up the fallen timber into lengths of about three feet, and to convey them to the spot where the dam is to be situated, securing them in their places by means of mud and stones. The work is commenced when the water is low, and carried on as it rises, until it has attained the desired height. And not only is it made of the requisite height and strength, but its shape is suited exactly to the nature of the stream in which it is built. If the water is sluggish the dam is straight; if rapid and turbulent, the barrier is constructed of a convex form, the better to resist the pressure of the waterater.

When the beavers have once commenced a dam, extent and thickness are continually augmented,

not only by their labors, but by accidental accumulations; thus accommodating itself to the size of the growing community. At length after a lapse of many years, the water being spread over a considerable tract, and filled up by yearly accumulations of drift-wood and earth, seeds take root in the new made ground, and the old beaver-dams become green meadows, or thickets of cotton-wood and willow.

The food on which the beaver subsists, is the bark of the young trees in its
neighborhood; and when laying up a winter store, the whole community join in the labor
of selecting, cutting up, and carrying the strips to their store houses under water. They
do not, as some writers have affirmed, when cutting wood for a dam strip off the bark
and store it in their lodges for winter consumption; but only carry under water the stick
with the bark on.

" The beaver has two incisors and eight molars in each jaw; and empty hollows where
the canine teeth might be. The upper pair of cutting teeth extend far into the jaw, with a
curve of rather more than a semicircle; and the lower pair of incisors form rather less
than a semicircle. Sometimes, one of these teeth gets broken and then the opposite
tooth continues growing until it forms a nearly complete circle. The chewing muscle of
the beaver is strengthened by tendons in such a way as to give it great power. But
more is needed to enable the beaver to eat wood. The insalivation of the dry food is
provided for by the extraordinary size of the salivary glands.

" Now, every part of these instruments is of vital importance to the beavers. The loss of
an incisor involves the formation of an obstructive circular tooth; deficiency of saliva
renders the food indigestible; and when old age comes and the enamel is worn down
faster than it is renewed, the beaver is not longer able to cut branches for its support.
Old, feeble and poor, unable to borrow, and ashamed to beg, he steals cuttings, and
subjects himself to the penalty assigned to theft. Aged beavers are often found dead
with gashes in their bodies, showing that they have been killed by their mates. In the
fall of 1864, a very aged beaver was caught in one of the dams of the Esconawba
River, and this was the reflection of a great authority on the occasion, one Ah-she-goes, an
Ojibwa trapper: 'Had he escaped the trap he would have been killed before
the winter was over, by other beavers, for stealing cuttings.'

When the beavers are about two or three years old, their teeth are in their best
condition for cutting. On the Upper Missouri, they cut the cotton tree and the willow
bush; around Hudson's Bay and Lake Superior, in addition to the willow they cut the
poplar and maple, hemlock, spruce and pine. The cutting is round and round, and
deepest upon the side on which they wish the tree to fall. Indians and trappers have
seen beavers cutting trees. The felling of a tree is a family affair. No more than a single
pair with two or three young ones are engaged at a time. The adults take the cutting in
turns, one gnawing and the other watching; and occasionally a youngster trying his
incisors. The beaver whilst gnawing sits on his plantigrade hind legs, which keep him
conveniently upright. When the tree begins to crackle the beavers work cautiously, and
when it crashes down they plunge into the pond, fearful lest the noise should attract an
enemy to the spot. After the tree-fall, comes the lopping of the branches. A single tree
may be winter provision for a family. Branches five or six inches thick have to be cut
into proper lengths for transport, and are then taken home."

The lodge of a beaver is generally about six feet in diameter, on the inside, and about
half as high. They are rounded or dome-shaped on the outside, with very thick walls,
and communicate with the land by subterranean passages, below the depth at which
the water freezes in winter. Each lodge is made to accommodate several inmates, who
have their beds ranged round the walls, much as the Indian does in his tent. They are
very cleanly, too, and after eating, carry out the sticks that have been stripped, and
either use them in repairing their dam, or throw them into the stream below.

During the summer months the beavers abandon their lodges, and disport themselves
about the streams, sometimes going on long journeys; or if any remain at home, they
are the mothers of young families. About the last of August the community returns to its
home, and begins preparations for the domestic cares of the long winter months.

An exception to this rule is that of certain individuals who have no families, make no
dam, and never live in lodges, but burrow in subterranean tunnels. They are always
found to be males, whom the French trappers call "les parasseux," or idlers; and the
American trappers "bachelors." Several of them are sometimes found in one abode,
which the trappers facetiously denominate "bachelor's hall." Being taken with less
difficulty than the more domestic beaver, the trapper is always glad to come upon their
habitations.

The trapping season is usually in the spring and autumn. But should the hunters find it
necessary to continue their work in winter, they capture the beaver by sounding on the
ice until an aperture is discovered, when the ice is cut away and the opening closed up.
Returning to the bank, they search for the subterranean passage, tracing its connection
with the lodge; and by patient watching succeed in catching the beaver on some of its
journeys between the water and the land. This, however, is not often resorted to when
the hunt in the fall has been successful; or when not urged by famine to take the
beaver for food.

" Occasionally it happens," says Captain Bonneville, " that several members of a
beaver family are trapped in succession. The survivors then become extremely shy,
and can scarcely be "brought to medicine," to use the trappers' phrase for "taking the
bait." In such case, the trapper gives up the use of the bait, and conceals his traps in
the usual paths and crossing places of the household. The beaver being now
completely "up to trap," approaches them cautiously, and springs them, ingeniously,
with a stick. At other times, he turns the traps bottom upwards, by the same means, and
occasionally even drags them to the barrier, and conceals them in the mud. The trapper
now gives up the contest of ingenuity, and shouldering his traps, marches off, admitting
that he is not yet " up to beaver."

Before the camp moved from the forks of the Snake River, the haunting Blackfeet made
their appearance openly. It was here that Meek had his first battle with that nation, with
whom he subsequently had many a savage contest. They attacked the camp early in
the morning, just as the call to turn out had sounded. But they had miscalculated their
opportunity: the design having evidently been to stampede the horses and mules, at
the hour and moment of their being turned loose to graze. They had been too hasty by
a few minutes, so that when they charged on the camp pell-mell, firing a hundred guns
at once, to frighten both horses and men, it happened that only a few of the animals
had been turned out, and they had not yet got far off. The noise of the charge only
turned them back to camp.

In an instant's time, Fitzpatrick was mounted, and commanding the men to follow, he
galloped at headlong speed round and round the camp, to drive back such of the
horses as were straying, or had been frightened from their pickets. In this race, two
horses were shot under him; but he escaped and the camp-horses were saved. The
battle now was to punish the thieves. They took their position, as usual with Indian
fighters, in a narrow ravine; from whence the camp was forced to dislodge them, at a
great disadvantage. This they did do, at last, after six hours of hard fighting, in which a
few men were wounded, but none killed. The thieves skulked off, through the canyon,
when they found themselves defeated, and were seen no more until the camp came to
the woods which cover the western slope of the Rocky Mountains.

But as the camp moved eastward, or rather in a northeasterly direction, through the
pine forests between Pierre's Hole and the head-waters of the Missouri, it was
continually harrassed by BlackFeet, and required a strong guard at night, when these
marauders delighted to make an attack. The weather by this time was very cold in the
mountains, and chilled the marrow of our young Virginian. The travel was hard, too,
and the recruits pretty well worn out.

One cold night, Meek was put on guard on the further side of the camp, with a veteran
named Reese. But neither the veteran nor the youngster could resist the approaches of
" tired Nature's sweet restorer," and went to sleep at their post of duty. When, during
the night, Sublette came out of his tent and gave the challenge-- " All's well! " there
was no reply. To quote Meek's own language, " Sublette came round the horse-pen
swearing and snorting. He was powerful mad. Before he got to where Reese was, he
made so much noise that he waked him; and Reese, in a loud whisper, called to him, '
Down, Billy ! Indians ! ' Sublette got down on his belly mighty quick. ' Whar ? whar ?' he
asked.

" 'They were right there when you hollered so,' said Reese.

" 'Where is Meek ?' whispered Sublette.

" 'He is trying to shoot one,' answered Reese, still in a whisper.

" Reese then crawled over to whar I war, and told me what had been said, and informed
me what to do. In a few minutes I crept cautiously over to Reese's post, when Sublette
asked me how many Indians-had been thar, and I told him I couldn't make out their
number. In the morning a pair of Indian moccasins war found whar Reese saw the
Indians, which I had taken care to leave there; and thus confirmed, our story got us the
credit of vigilance, instead of our receiving our just dues for neglect of duty."

It was sometime during the fall hunt in the Pine Woods, on the west side of the Rocky
Mountains, that Meek had one of his earliest adventures with a bear. Two comrades,
Craig and Nelson, and himself, while out trapping, left their horses, and traveled up a
creek on foot, in search of beaver. They had not proceeded any great distance, before
they came suddenly face to face with a red bear; so suddenly, indeed, that the men
made a spring for the nearest trees. Craig and Meek ascended a large pine, which
chanced to be nearest, and having many limbs, was easy to climb. Nelson happened to
take to one of two small trees that grew close together; and the bear, fixing upon him
for a victim, undertook to climb after him. With his back against one of these small
trees, and his feet against the other, his bearship succeeded in reaching a point not far
below Nelson's perch, when the trees opened with his weight, and down he went, with a
shock that fairly shook the ground. But this bad luck only seemed to infuriate the beast,
and up he went again, with the same result, each time almost reaching his enemy. With
the second tumble he was not the least discouraged; but started up the third time, only
to be dashed once more to the ground when he had attained a certain height. At the
third fall, however, he became thoroughly disgusted with his want of success, and
turned and ran at full speed into the woods.

" Then," says Meek, " Craig began to sing, and I began to laugh; but Nelson took to
swearing. '0 yes, you can laugh and sing now,' says Nelson; 'but you war quiet enough
when the bear was around.' ' Why, Nelson,' I answered, 'you wouldn't have us noisy
before that distinguished guest of yours?' But Nelson damned the wild beast; and Craig
and I laughed, and said he didn't seem wild a bit. That's the way we hector each other
in the mountains. If a man gets into trouble he is only laughed at: 'let him keep out; let
him have better luck.' is what we say."

The country traversed by Sublette in the fall of 1829, was unknown at that period, even
to the fur companies, they having kept either farther to the south or to the north. Few, if
any, white men had passed through it since Lewis and Clarke discovered the head-waters of the
Missouri and the Snake Rivers, which flow from the opposite sides of the
same mountain peaks. Even the toils and hardships of passing over mountains at this
season of the year, did not deprive the trapper of the enjoyment of the magnificent
scenery the region afforded. Splendid views, however, could not long beguile men who
had little to eat, and who had yet a long journey to accomplish in cold, and surrounded
by dangers, before reaching the wintering ground.

In November the camp left Missouri Lake on the east side of the mountains, and
crossed over, still northeasterly, on to the Gallatin fork of the Missouri River, passing
over a very rough and broken country. They were, in fact, still in the midst of
mountains, being spurs of the great Rocky range, and equally high and rugged. A
particularly high mountain lay between them and the main Yellowstone River. This they
had just crossed, with great fatigue and difficulty, and were resting the camp and
horses for a few days on the river's bank, when the Blackfeet once more attacked them
in considerable numbers. Two men were killed in this fight, and the camp thrown into
confusion by the suddenness of the alarm. Capt. Sublette, however, got off, with most
of his men, still pursued by the Indians.

Not so our Joe, who this time was not in luck, but was cut off from camp, alone, and
had to flee to the high mountains overlooking the Yellowstone. Here was a situation for
a nineteen-year-old raw recruit! Knowing that the Blackfeet were on the trail of the
camp, it was death to proceed in that direction. Some other route must be taken to
come up with them; the country was entirely unknown to him; the cold severe; his mule,
blanket, and gun, his only earthly possessions. On the latter he depended for food, but
game was scarce; and besides, he thought the sound of his gun would frighten himself,
so alone in the wilderness, swarming with stealthy foes.

Hiding his mule in a thicket, he ascended to the mountain top to take a view of the
country, and decide upon his course. And what a scene was that for the miserable boy,
whose chance of meeting with his comrades again was small indeed! At his feet rolled
the Yellowstone River, coursing away through the great plain to the eastward. To the
north his eye follows the windings of the Missouri, as upon a map, but playing at hide-and-seek in
amongst the mountains. Looking back, he saw the River Snake stretching
its serpentine length through lava plains, far away, to its junction with the Columbia. To
the north, and to the south, one white mountain rose above another as far as the eye
could reach. What a mighty and magnificent world it seemed, to be alone in! Poor Joe
succumbed to the influence of the thought, and wept.

Having indulged in this sole remaining luxury of life, Joe picked up his resolution, and
decided upon his course. To the southeast lay the Crow country, a land of plenty --as
the mountain-man regards plenty,--and there he could at least live; provided the Crows
permitted him to do so. Besides, he had some hopes of falling in with one of the camps,
by taking that course.

Descending the mountain to the hiding-place of his mule, by which time it was dark
night, hungry and freezing, Joe still could not light a fire, for fear of revealing his
whereabouts to the Indians; nor could he remain to perish with cold. Travel he must,
and travel he did, going he scarcely knew whither. Looking back upon the terrors and
discomforts of that night, the veteran mountaineer yet regards it as about the most
miserable one of his life. When day at length broke, he had made, as well as he could
estimate the distance, about thirty miles. Traveling on toward the southeast, he had
crossed the Yellowstone River, and still among the mountains, was obliged to abandon
his mule and accoutrements, retaining only one blanket and his gun. Neither the mule
nor himself had broken fast in the last two days. Keeping a southerly course for twenty
miles more, over a rough and elevated country, he came, on the evening of the third
day, upon a band of mountain sheep. With what eagerness did he hasten to kill, cook,
and eat ! Three days of fasting was, for a novice, quite sufficient to provide him with an
appetite.

Having eaten voraciously, and being quite overcome with fatigue, Joe fell asleep in his
blanket, and slumbered quite deeply until morning. With the morning came biting blasts
from the north, that made motion necessary if not pleasant. Refreshed by sleep and
food, our traveler hastened on upon his solitary way, taking with him what sheep-meat
he could carry, traversing the same rough and mountainous country as before. No
incidents nor alarms varied the horrible and monotonous solitude of the wilderness.
The very absence of anything to alarm was awful; for the bravest man is wretchedly
nervous in the solitary presence of sublime Nature. Even the veteran hunter of the
mountains can never entirely divest himself of this feeling of awe, when his single soul
comes face to face with God's wonderful and beautiful handiwork.

At the close of the fourth day, Joe made his lonely camp in a deep defile of the
mountains, where a little fire and some roasted mutton again comforted his inner and
outer man, and another night's sleep still farther refreshed his wearied frame. On the
following morning, a very bleak and windy one, having breakfasted on his remaining
piece of mutton, being desirous to learn something of the progress he had made, he
ascended a low mountain in the neighborhood of his camp--and behold! the whole
country beyond was smoking with the vapor from boiling springs, and burning with
gasses, issuing from small craters, each of which was emitting a sharp whistling sound.

When the first surprise of this astonishing scene had passed, Joe began to admire its
effect in an artistic point of view. The morning being clear, with a sharp frost, he
thought himself reminded of the city of Pittsburg, as he had beheld it on a winter
morning, a couple of years before. This, however, related only to the rising smoke and
vapor; for the extent of the volcanic region was immense, reaching far out of sight. The
general face of the country was smooth and rolling, being a level plain, dotted with
cone-shaped mounds. On the summits of these mounds were small craters from four to
eight feet in diameter. Interspersed among these, on the level plain, were larger
craters, some of them from four to six miles across. Out of these craters issued blue
flames and molten brimstone.

For some minutes Joe gazed and wondered. Curious thoughts came into his head,
about hell and the day of doom. With that natural tendency to reckless gayety and
humorous absurdities which some temperaments are sensible of in times of great
excitement, he began to soliloquize. Said he, to himself, "I have been told the sun
would be blown out, and the earth burnt up. If this infernal wind keeps up, I shouldn't be
surprised if the sun war blown out. If the earth is not burning up over thar, then it is that
place the old Methodist preacher used to threaten me with. Any way it suits me to go
and see what it's like."

On descending to the plain described, the earth was found to have a hollow sound, and
seemed threatening to break through. But Joe found the warmth of the place most
delightful, after the freezing cold of the mountains, and remarked to himself again, that
"if it war hell, it war a more agreeable climate than he had been in for some time."

He had thought the country entirely desolate, as not a living creature had been seen in
the vicinity; but while he stood gazing about him in curious amazement, he was startled
by the report of two guns, followed by the Indian yell. While making rapid preparations
for defence and flight, if either or both should be necessary, a familiar voice greeted
him with the exclamation, " It's old Joe! " When the adjective " old " is applied to one of
Meek's age at that time, it is generally understood to be a term of endearment. " My
feelings you may imagine," says the "old Uncle Joe" of the present time, in recalling the
adventure.

Being joined by these two associates, who had been looking for him, our traveler, no
longer simply a raw recruit, but a hero of wonderful adventures, as well as the rest of
the men, proceeded with them to camp, which they overtook the third day, attempting to
cross the high mountains between the Yellowstone and the Bighorn Rivers. If Meek had
seen hard times in the mountains alone, he did not find them much improved in camp.
The snow was so deep that the men had to keep in advance, and break the road for the
animals; and to make their condition still more trying, there were no provisions in camp,
nor any prospect of plenty, for men or animals, until they should reach the buffalo
country beyond the mountains.

During this scarcity of provisions, some of those amusing incidents took place with
which the mountaineer will contrive to lighten his own and his comrades' spirits, even in
periods of the greatest suffering. One which we have permission to relate, has
reference to what Joe Meek calls the " meanest act of his life."

While the men were starving, a negro boy, belonging to Jedediah Smith, by some
means was so fortunate as to have caught a porcupine, which he was roasting before
the fire. Happening to turn his back for a moment, to observe something in camp, Meek
and Reese snatched the tempting viand and made off with it, before the darkey
discovered his loss. But when it was discovered, what a wail went up for the embezzled
porcupine! Suspicion fixed upon the guilty parties, but as no one would 'peach on white
men to save a "nigger's" rights, the poor, disappointed boy could do nothing but lament
in vain, to the great amusement of the men, who upon the principle that "misery loves
company," rather chuckled over than condemned Meek's " mean act."

There was a sequel, however, to this little story. So much did the negro dwell upon the
event, and the heartlessness of the men towards him, that in the following summer,
when Smith was in St. Louis, he gave the boy his freedom and two hundred dollars,
and left him in that city; so that it became a saying in the mountains, that " the nigger
got his freedom for a porcupine."

During this same march, a similar joke was played upon one of the men named Craig.
He had caught a rabbit and put it up to roast before the fire--a tempting looking morsel
to starving mountaineers. Some of his associates determined to see how it tasted, and
Craig was told that the Booshways wished to speak with him at their lodge. While he
obeyed this supposed command, the rabbit was spirited away, never more to be seen
by mortal man. When Craig returned to the camp-fire, and beheld the place vacant
where a rabbit so late was nicely roasting, his passion knew no bounds, and he
declared his intention of cutting it out of the stomach that contained it. But as finding
the identical stomach which contained it involved the cutting open of many that
probably did not, in the search, he was fain to relinquish that mode of vengeance,
together with his hopes of a supper. As Craig is still living, and is tormented by the
belief that he knows the man who stole his rabbit, Mr. Meek takes this opportunity of
assuring him, upon the word of a gentleman, that he is not the man.

While on the march over these mountains, owing to the depth of the snow, the
company lost a hundred head of horses and mules, which sank in the yet unfrozen
drifts, and could not be extricated. In despair at their situation, Jedediah Smith one day
sent a man named Harris to the top of a high peak to take a view of the country, and
ascertain their position. After a toilsome scramble the scout returned.

"Well, what did you see, Harris?" asked Smith anxiously.

" I saw the city of St. Louis, and one fellow taking a drink! " replied Harris; prefacing the
assertion with a shocking oath.

Smith asked no more questions. He understood by the man's answer that he had made
no pleasing discoveries; and knew that they had still a weary way before them to reach
the plains below. Besides, Smith was a religious man, and the coarse profanity of the
mountaineers was very distasteful to him. " A very mild man, and a christian; and there
were very few of them in the mountains," is the account given of him by the
mountaineers themselves.

The camp finally arrived without loss of life, except to the animals, on the plains of the
Bighorn River, and came upon the waters of the Stinking Fork, a branch of this river,
which derives its unfortunate appellation from the fact that it flows through a volcanic
tract similar to the one discovered by Meek on the Yellowstone plains. This place
afforded as much food for wonder to the whole camp, as the former one had to Joe;
and the men unanimously pronounced it the " back door to that country which divines

preach about." As this volcanic district had previously been seen by one of Lewis and
Clarke's men, named Colter, while on a solitary hunt, and by him also denominated
"hell," there must certainly have been something very suggestive in its appearance.

If the mountains had proven barren, and inhospitably cold, this hot and sulphurous
country offered no greater hospitality. In fact, the fumes which pervaded the air
rendered it exceedingly noxious to every living thing, and the camp was fain to push on
to the main stream of the Bighorn River. Here signs of trappers became apparent, and
spies having been sent out discovered a camp of about forty men, under Milton
Sublette, brother of Captain William Sublette, the same that had been detached the
previous summer to hunt in that country. Smith and Sublette then cached their furs, and
moving up the river joined the camp of M. Sublette.

The manner of caching furs is this: A pit is dug to a depth of five or six feet in which to
stand. The men then drift from this under a bank of solid earth, and excavate a room of
considerable dimensions, in which the furs are deposited, and the apartment closed up.
The pit is then filled up with earth, and the traces of digging obliterated or concealed.
These caches are the only storehouses of the wilderness.

While the men were recruiting themselves in the joint camp, the alarm of "Indians! "
was given, and hurried cries of "shoot! shoot! " were uttered on the instant. Captain
Sublette, however, checked this precipitation, and ordering the men to hold, allowed
the Indians to approach, making signs of peace. They proved to be a war party of
Crows, who after smoking the pipe of peace with the Captain, received from him a
present of some tobacco, and departed.

As soon as the camp was sufficiently recruited for traveling, the united companies set
out again toward the south, and crossed the Horn mountains once more into Wind
River Valley; having had altogether, a successful fall hunt, and made some important
explorations, notwithstanding the severity of the weather and the difficulty of mountain
traveling. It was about Christmas when the camp arrived on Wind River, and the cold
intense. While the men celebrated Christmas, as best they might under the
circumstances, Capt. Sublette started to St. Louis with one man, Harris, called among
mountain-men Black Harris, on snowshoes, with a train of pack-dogs. Such was the
indomitable energy and courage of this famous leader!